Manufacture of soap from sperm oil



Patented Jan. 22, 1946 2,393,421 MANUFACTURE or SOAP FROM SPERM on.

German Schmidt and Carlos raiso, Chile, assignors to Compafiia Edwards, Valpa- Industrial,

Valparaiso, Chile, a corporation of Chile No Drawing. Application November 26, 1942, Se-

rial N0. 467,056- In Chile April 8, 1942 3 Claims.

Our present invention relates to the manufacture of soap from sperm oil and aims to provide certain improvements therein.

Sperm oil and spermaceti are products of the I sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus). The

is the utilization of sperm oil for the manufacture of soap without first removing from said' sperm oil the unsaponifiable constituents thereof which are usually present in the form of saturated and unsaturated fatty acid alcohols and esters having from seven to twenty-two carbon atoms.

It is well known that it is possible to transform primary fatty alcohols into fatty acids having the same number of carbon atoms by heating the alcohol with alkali and liberating hydrogen. As an example of this reaction may be cited the conversion of cetyl alcohol into palmitic acid, the reaction being as follows:

According to the foregoing reaction it will be noted that the alcohol is directly converted into the sodium salt of the respective fatty acid, that is to say, the alcohol istransformed into the soap of the corresponding acid.

Heretofore the transformation of the fatty alcohols into fatty acids or fatty acid soaps could only be effected with pure fatty alcohols, i. e., after having separated the alcohols from the fatty acid esters. The practical carrying out of this separation, however, is beset with many technical difficulties which up to the present time it has been impossible to overcome, thus rendering the utilization of this process to industrial application exceedingly difficult.

Our present invention contemplates the trans- (Cl. 260-417) V droxide, although other alkalis such as potas-' sium hydroxide, calcium hydroxide and the like may be used. In carrying out the process, sperm oil and alkali, the latter preferably in a finely divided or pulverulent state, are placed in a metal container provided with an agitator, the container sealed and the air exhausted therefrom. The container and its contents are then heated to approximately 270 to 280 0., in the course of which the reaction between the sperm oil and the alkali takes place with the liberation of hydrogen. The heating is continued until the reaction goes to completion and it is preferable to maintain a certain pressure of the liberated hydrogen within the container during the reaction for the dual purpose of preventin the re-entrance of airinto the container and to formation of the fatty alcohols into fatty acids or a rather into the alkali salts of the fattyacids without first separating the fatty alcoholsfrom the fatty esters present in sperm oil. This we accomplish in an emcient and practical manner by the simultaneous saponification of the fatty acids and the transformation of the fatty alcohols into fatty acid soap in a single process, as follows: The sperm oil (raw or hydrogenated) is heated to from approximately 270 to 280 C. while mixed with the necessary quantity of anhydrous alkali in a suitable container provided with an agitator. The alkali preferably is sodium hy- .ter is conveniently left regulate the foam produced in the reacting mass.

In carrying out the invention as hereinbefore set forth, an anhydrous soap of good quality is obtained with a content of unsaponifiable matter of approximately 3%,

in the soap because of its property of producing a finer and more creamy lather and'of augmenting the surface cleansing action of the soap.

By sperm oil as herein used in the specification and claims is meant the oily liquid obtained from sperm whales, whether refined, unrefined or hydrogenated.

What we claim is: I

1. A method of making soap from sperm. oil which consists in treating sperm oil having a high fatty alcohol content at a temperature of approximately 275 C. with anhydrous alkali by initiating such treatment out of contact with the air and without withdrawing the fatty alcohols from the reaction chamber, continuing the reaction in the presence of the generated hydrogen to saponify the fatty acids and to transform the fatty alcohols into soap in a single operation.

2. A method of making soap from sperm oil which comprises heating sperm onhaving a high fatty alcohol content with anhydrous alkali to simultaneously saponify the fatty acids of the sperm oil and to transform the fatty alcohols of the'sperm oil into soap without withdrawing the fatty alcohols from the reaction chamber.

3. A method of making soap from sperm oil which consists in treating sperm oil having a high fatty alcohol content at a temperature of approximately 275 C. with anhydrous alkali byinitiating such treatment out of contact with the air and continuing the reaction in the presence of the superatmospheric pressure of the generated hydrogen to saponify the fatty acids and to transform the fatty alcohols into soap in a single operation. e 7

GERMAN SCHMIDT.

CARLOS EDWARDS.

the V which unsaponifiable mat- 

